The Descent (2005)

Awards: Won Saturn Award for Best Horror Film (2007), Empire Award for Best British Film (2006), British Independent Film Award for Best Director (2005)

Imagine going on a cave exploring expedition with five of your closest friends. Now imagine one of these friends was having an affair with your husband. A husband that you accidently killed in a car accident with your daughter serval years prior. Now imagine while on this spelunking trip, all of you got lost in an unexplored cave system and quickly find out that you are not alone. Thus begins a terryfying tale that will have you at the edge of your seat all the way till the bone-chilling conclusion that will leave you breathless. Such is the experience you’ll have as you descend through the excellent film, The Descent.

Being a huge fan of horror films, The Descent surprised me by catching me off guard with it’s many layers and unrelenting suspense. Like all the great classics such as Jaws and Alien, The Descent lets the tension build upon itself and slowly reveals the movie’s adversaries. Even better, by spending the first half of the movie character building, the audience comes to care about the protaganists as they are put through a gauntlet of terror. The Director, Neil Marshall who previously only directed the great werewolf film Dog Soldiers, took a step from Alien and prevented any of the cast members from seeing what the underground creatures that they are to face look like until the the actual scene of their meeting was shot. Their reaction in the film is genuine. On the dvd you’ll get the original and far superior ending to the movie. The theatrical run had the last few minutes chopped off to give the film a more “happy” ending. Just as Jaws had you doubt ever going into the ocean again, this film will have you thinking twice before going underground into those deep, dark places.